Valley homeowners need sinkhole insurance

Ground may be more be more likely to give way because of heavy rain, earthquake.

A notice on Belinda and Jamin Sell's front door says their home on Florida… (THE MORNING CALL, DONNA…)

January 07, 2012|Paul Muschick | The Watchdog

If you've heard about sinkholes swallowing homes recently and you're worried yours could be next, you're not alone. The Lehigh Valley is susceptible to sinkholes, and the blows Mother Nature dealt last year didn't help.

With the recent spate of sinkholes, a senator wants insurance regulators to make sure people know they can buy extra insurance to cover sinkhole damage to their homes.

Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Bob Casey asked the state insurance commissioner last month to do more to address the risk to homeowners. His request came shortly after I wrote about the dilemma facing Belinda and Jamin Sell of Whitehall Township.

Multiple sinkholes damaged their home after Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. They didn't have sinkhole insurance and had been denied federal disaster relief. Since my column, their home was declared uninhabitable and the feds have awarded them some money, though the Sells still question how their claim is being handled.

Also since then, more sinkholes in the Valley have damaged more homes, including several on N. 10th Street in Allentown and on Irma Drive in Hanover Township, Lehigh County.

Some of those homeowners also did not have sinkhole insurance. In a letter to the state, Casey said he fears too many homeowners don't know they need extra coverage, aren't offered the additional coverage by their agent and don't discover the coverage gap until it is too late.

"For most families, a home is the single largest investment they will ever make," Casey wrote. "It is critical that homeowners fully understand the options available to them to protect that investment. I encourage the Pennsylvania Insurance Department to ensure that every person who buys a home in the commonwealth is made aware that sinkhole coverage is not a standard part of homeowners insurance, but that additional coverage to protect against damage caused by sinkholes is available."

Casey's recommendation makes sense to anyone familiar with the Lehigh Valley's limestone geology. Limestone is susceptible to sinkholes because it erodes more easily than other rock.

The drenching Mother Nature gave us through record rainfall last year and the shakedown she gave us through a minor earthquake in August could have caused more sinkholes to open than usual, said Richard Parizek, a Penn State geology professor.

He said as the water table rises and falls, it creates an erosive force. And, he said, vibrations from the earthquake may have fractured water-weakened earth.

While the sinkholes appeared on the Sells' property immediately after Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, the recent sinkholes in Allentown and Hanover Township opened during relatively dry weather.

Parizek said hidden underground damage could have started months earlier, and it was just a matter of time before the final layer of ground above the hole broke.

"That bridge can sit there for a long time," he said.

He said there are reasons why sinkholes often appear around water or sewer pipes, as occurred in Allentown and Hanover. When pipes are installed, the ground around them is weakened.

"You never compact the soil as much as it was originally," Parizek said.

The pipe provides a path for groundwater to follow and the looser earth, which can include gravel in place of the original clay and rocks, can erode more easily.

"Even if the pipe didn't leak, you still could have water converging on the outside of it," Parizek said.

If the ground beneath the pipe collapses, the pipe could sag and start leaking, spilling more water that can increase the size of the void.

State Insurance Commissioner Michael Consedine welcomes Casey's suggestion. He told me the state would talk with insurance agents about the importance of emphasizing the availability of sinkhole coverage.

Through his request, Casey hopes to prevent situations like the one the Sells are in. They don't recall their State Farm agent offering them sinkhole coverage when they bought the home about a year before the sinkholes occurred. State Farm has told me the agent doesn't recall whether he offered the coverage, either. It has reopened their claim.

In a response letter to Casey on Thursday, Consedine wrote that his department has received no complaints about sinkhole coverage and only about a half-dozen inquiries about how to get coverage.

"As you point out, it is imperative that consumers understand that sinkhole coverage is not part of a standard homeowner's policy," Consedine wrote. "Additionally, just as a consumer needs to understand their own insurance risk, a good insurance producer needs to understand his or her client's individual needs and offer options to address those needs."